Assistive Technology

          Assistive Technology “is any device or service that helps a student with a disability to meet his or her individualized education program (IEP) goals and to participate in the general education setting to the greatest possible extent.”  (http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/at/at_01.html )  These technologies offer individuals with disabilities or special learning needs increased opportunities for learning, productivity, and independence. In the past assistive technology has only been thought of as devices that give students better physical or sensory access to instruction, such as wheelchairs, hearing-aids/amplification devices, Braille, large-print text, voice recognition software, ect. However, technology can assist in addressing a wider range of learning and teaching needs for students.  (Roblyer & Doering 2013)
A great website I found for finding Assistive Technology is http://techmatrix.org/. At TechMatrix you enter “Subject Area”, “Grade Level”, “IDEA Disability Category”, and/or “Instructional Support” available and it gives you a list of possible assistive technologies.

          In this post I will explore options for assistive technologies that could be used in a secondary math classroom, for students with the following special learning needs:

·         Mild disabilities

·         Moderate and severe disabilities

·         Physical disabilities

·         Sensory disabilities

·         At-risk behaviors/situations

·         Gifts and talents

 

Mild Disabilities

          Mild disabilities are the most common type of disability and include learning disabilities, serious emotional disorders, and mental retardation (Roblyer & Doering 2013). Roblyer & Doering (2013) also suggest technologies such as graphing software, drills, games, and tutorials for examples of sample technologies that can be utilized for students for mild disabilities.  Often students with these mild disabilities have gaps and deficiencies in their math abilities and are not able to always to complete the same level of work as their peers. They often need remediation in basic skills and motivation to succeed in math. In the past I have used Integrated Learning System (ILS) Software (see “Instructional Software” blog post) to help individualize these students curriculum and fill the gaps or make up the deficiencies in basic skills. Depending on the student’s needs is how much of instructional time is used on the ILS Software. The ILS Software I have used is the ACADEMY OF MATH which I found beneficial to my students. There are several other ILS Software programs. Drill and Practice Programs and games are another good way to keep students quick at doing basic arithmetic. The ability to quickly do arithmetic is one reason why students with mild disabilities struggle in math. IPad apps such as MATH DRILLS are good for making this type of practice fun. If you do not have iPads, a quick internet search will return many other free web-based options for drill and practice games.

Moderate and Severe Disabilities

        "For students with moderate and severe cognitive disabilities considerable effort is devoted to ensuring that they acquire daily living skills such as personal hygiene, shopping, and use of public transportation" (Roblyer &Doering, p 408, 2013).  In these cases more than likely it will not be in the students educational goals to learn to solve quadratic equations or learn trigonometry. These students will need to master the basic math skills required for living independently.  An interesting software program I found is "My Mathematical Life" a simulation game in which students take a character from high school graduation to retirement, giving advice on important health, education, career, and financial decisions. MoneyInstructor.com has resources to teach and learn how to write a check, make checking account deposits and withdrawals, endorse checks, manage and balance your checkbook, and checkbook reconciliation with your monthly bank checking account statement. 

 

Physical Disablities

      Physical disabilities generally only affect a person's mobility and agility. So, in a secondary math classroom we are generally looking for a technology that will help the student write or type, so that questions, answers, and classwork can be done. An Audio Graphing Calculator provides an alternative for people who cannot effectively use a handheld calculator. Also, MathType is an interesting program I found for math accessibility. "MathType has three important accessibility capabilities. First of all, MathType can be used as an add-on to Microsoft Word to enable students with hand writing or mobility issues to create math equations with a computer, either via the keyboard, mouse, or with a variety of adaptive mouse tools. Secondly, MathType can be used to create accessible math content via MathType's MathPage function. The resulting web document can then be read with any MathML-enabled screen reader or assistive technology application. Thirdly, MathType can be used to produce math braille when used with supported braille translation software like Duxbury Braille Translator or the ViewPlus Tiger Software Suite"  (http://techmatrix.org/resource/mathtype).

Sensory Disablities

      Sensory disabilities encompasses students who may not be able to see or hear, well.  MathType is a great resource for these students as well, since it can enable math content to be read to students and math content can be output in Braille using supporting software.

 

At Risk Behaviors/Situations

        "Students at risk for school failure are not considered disabled in the sense of the federal definition of disability. However, their lack of success in school often parallels the low performance of students with disablilities" (Roblyer & Doering, 2013, p 409)  At Risk students often lack motivation and have difficulties in math computations and concepts. Properly integrating technology into the curriculum can help increase motivation in all students. Engaging videos like those from www.BrainPop.com make math more engaging for students. Drill and Practice programs like those from www.ixl.com can help students become more proficient in math computations. There are so many more ways that technology can be used to motivate, remediate, and engage students that I have posted in previous blog posts.

Gifted and Talented

Roblyer and Doering (2013, p 411) quotes NCLB to define gifted and talented.  "The federal definition of gifted students ... Students, children, or youth who give evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in a specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities." Gifted students need to be provided opportunites to further explore concepts than their peers. Often gifted students can become bored with the repetition of math. WolframAlpha is a great website to let gifted students explore the bigger picture of mathematics. Gifted Students could also participate in www.MathLeague.com 's annual Math League Contest. The Math League has Math Contests for Grades 4 through 8, Algebra 1 students, and High School Students. Over one million students from the United States and Canada participate in Math League Contests each year. Every contest has questions from different areas of mathematics. The goal is to encourage student interest and confidence in mathematics through solving worthwhile problems. Many students first develop an interest in mathematics through problem-solving activities such as these contests. Schools compete in statewide or multistate league competitions.

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— MindYum (@Mind_Yum) July 30, 2012